MP Moira Deeming Wins “Neo-Nazi” Defamation Case

Former Liberal MP Moira Deeming has won her defamation case against Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto after he inferred she was a Nazi sympathiser.

Justice David O’Callaghan passed down his findings on Thursday morning, with Deeming to be awarded $300,000 in damages.

Court costs have not yet been determined, and will be decided upon at a later date.

The trial, which lasted for three weeks, saw a host of Victorian Liberal MPs cross-examined, as well as the emergence of secret recordings of meetings, and private emails and messages.

Deeming’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, argued that Pesutto’s push to expel her client from the party had “nothing to do” with the rally itself, but her views on “sex-based rights”, and that he created a “false narrative” that Deeming “associates with Nazis” in order to “get rid of her”.

Chrysanthou said while Pesutto never explicitly called Moira Deeming a Nazi, an ordinary person would have inferred it based on his comments.

Pesutto’s lawyer rejected this theory and argued that his client was acting in the public interest by distancing his party from “vile” associations with Nazis.

In his ruling, Judge O’Callaghan said that although Pessuto did not intend to defame Deeming, he “bandied around words” and used “loose language” such as ‘Nazi’ and ‘Nazi sympathiser’.

Nazi salute performed at ‘Let Women Speak’ event
The inciting incident took place when anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen, known also as Posie Parker, toured Australia and New Zealand in March last year. Keen co-hosted a Let Women Speak rally outside Victorian Parliament, advocating for “women’s sex based rights”, which was supported by far right extremist group Binary Australia, and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Deeming, who used her first speech in Parliament to express her anti-trans and anti-sex worker sentiments, helped organise and spoke at the event.

The rally was stormed by a group of Neo-Nazis, who performed the Nazi salute and chanted “white power” on the steps of Parliament.

While Deeming condemned the group, she claims was expelled from the Victorian Liberal party after she refused to denounce the event and its organisers as being extremist, Nazi sympathisers.

“This is not an issue about free speech but a member of the parliamentary party associating with people whose views are abhorrent to my values, the values of the Liberal Party and the wider community,” said Pesutto.

Calls for Pesutto’s resignation
Deputy Premier Ben Carroll has called for Pesutto’s resignation, and for an apology to be made to Deeming and “all Victorians”.

“He has no scrap of any integrity today, and he needs to do the right thing and resign.”

In a statement posted to X shortly after the announcement, Moira Deeming said she was “grateful to God” and thanked everyone who “prayed, wrote, donated and told the truth.”

“The organisers and attendees of the 2023 Melbourne ‘Let Women Speak’ Rally did nothing wrong and it is shameful that they were treated without fairness or respect by so many in public office.”

“I will continue to fight for the rights of parents, women and children – and I know I won’t be alone.”

“I am pleased with this result and relieved to have been vindicated. It has been an incredibly tough 22 months for me and my family but I can now start to move forward with the judgment today clearing my name.”